‘Something was wrong with the milk’

The Ministry of Education yesterday broke its silence surrounding the incident  which occurred at the Barrackpore ASJA Primary School almost one month ago where 16 students fell ill after consuming milk which had been delivered to the school under the School Nutrition Programme.

In an exclusive interview with Newsday, Education Minister Hazel Manning admitted that they had only received the results of investigations conducted by Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) last week. She confirmed that “something was wrong with the milk”and added, “We have put a stop to it,” referring to the milk being provided by the Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Ltd (PSAEL), the Minister said they were “about to meet” with the company “to chat with them on the results.”

In a release almost one month ago, PSAEL revealed that they had taken a decision to discontinue operations at its Chatham milk processing unit, following a visit by health officials. The release had further stated that PSAEL was conducting its own internal investigations, and that as a safety precaution, it had decided to withdraw all its milk products from the market. When Newsday contacted PSAEL’s General Manager Francis Bertrand at the time of the release, he had stated investigations were continuing, and that it would be inconclusive to say that it was the milk which had triggered the incident.

Regarding the closure of PSAEL’s processing plant, Bertrand added that it was done as a precautionary measure and that they would be re-examining their operations at the plant. When Newsday contacted Bertrand yesterday, he stated that following PSAEL’s  internal investigations, it was found that “there were some production and mechanical equipment problems which most likely would have contributed to the spoilage or poor quality of that batch of milk.” He revealed that a decision had been taken to leave the plant closed, and following recommendations of CARIRI’s report, PSAEL would soon be undertaking physical improvement works to the facilities. However, he added that before they re-opened, PSAEL would be seeking CARIRI’s approval.